Why The Politician Season 2 Includes That Strange FaceTime Scene

Pastel hues and pettiness make The Politician feel like the petulant younger sister of any Wes Anderson film. In fact, Astrid feels like a direct disciple of Margot Tenenbaum. It's why the bizarre FaceTime scene in The Politician season 2 finale stands out like a sore thumb. Turns out, it's for a very good reason.

Near the end of episode 7 "Election Day," Georgina (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is now the governor of California, calls former New York state senator Dede Standish (Judith Light) on FaceTime. She's already bored of her gubernatorial gig and plans to run for president in the next election. She asks Dede to be her vice president with the promise that she will not run for a second term. Probably for the best since Georgina wants Dede to do the real governing while she's POTUS. We would expect nothing less from Georgina, who is following her son's political aspirations straight to the Oval Office.

The scene is an important one since it sets up the twist in the finale's final moments. However, the quality of the video doesn't quite jive with the rest of the episode. Especially, since the series has always been more conventional both in form and look prior to this one scene. And that's because the bizarre season 2 scene was a result of the coronavirus quarantine. Netflix confirmed to Refinery29 that "the FaceTime call was filmed during the stay-at-home orders."

In an April interview with Collider, creator Ryan Murphy revealed that the production of season 2 was completed before the COVID-19 shutdown. "We were lucky enough that we finished filming and editing right before the coronavirus thing happened," he said. "We finished all of our episodes. We have a great second season and I think we’re trying to figure out how do we mix them now in the social distancing age."

During the mix or editing process of a show, a production may come back together for reshoots. It's unclear if this is a reshoot of a previously filmed scene or if this was an additional scene that was added later in the editing process. We'll have to wait for Murphy or others in the cast to offer details about the process here. However, it's hard to believe this scene would look like this if California and New York, where the show is set, had not been in lockdown in the months leading up to the launch of season 2.

While Georgina and Dede's day drinking discussion might be an odd sight to behold, it should excite the more voyeuristic Politician fans. Paltrow and Light are playing their respective characters, but this scene was filmed from the comfort of their own homes, which are exceptionally lit, while wearing their own wardrobe. It's safe to say these two know how to FaceTime in style.